How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

posted by Chris Valentine

Some people are born with the ability to speak in front of people, to gain their attention and hold it whilst trying to motivate, inspire or entertain an audience. People like TB Joshua are often the envy of many, Joshua is a pastor who on a weekly basis speaks to his large congregation at the Synagogue Church of All Nations, his grasp of pace, diction and tone make him an entertaining and inspirational speaker.

In your daily lives there will be times when you will need to get up and captivate an audience, it could be presenting a project, giving out an award or even just to make a rallying cry to your team. If you are not a confident public speaker then these can be nervous times that you don’t relish but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to be a great public speaker then here are some tips that you can follow.

Plan Meticulously

Whilst it is better to speak off the cuff, to begin with it is far better that you thoroughly prepare exactly what you are going to say. After doing this for enough time you will have the confidence to freestyle your speaking but right now, just stick to planned material.

Practice

In order to feel confident about what you are going to say, it is important that you practice it a great deal before you need to speak. Start practicing days ahead of your speech and the goal here is to now your speech inside out and back to front, doing this will mean that your delivery comes across far more naturally than if you were simply reading from a script.

Engage

This can be one of the most difficult parts of public speaking, engaging with your audience and if you are not confident then this is going to have to be a barrier that you will need to overcome. In order to engage with your audience you need to make eye contact with them, focus on a few individuals when you are making points and maintain eye contact, fleetingly looking past people will not gain their attention. The way that you speak also engages people, a monotone, quiet voice will do nothing to captivate your audience and you need to ensure that the tone of your voice rises and falls as you make various points.

Body Language

Body language is very important when you are speaking, staying still and cocooning yourself will come across like this is the scariest thing you’ve ever done in your life, something that even if it is true, should be avoided. Use the space you have on the stage or area where you are speaking from and utilize your arms when making points. This will help you to feel more confident and it will also help when you are trying to engage your audience. Staying still and lifeless will also affect your voice negatively so it is important that you open up your chest and let those lungs do their work.